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Three-Axis
Animation: Creating The rules
of three-axis animation are extremely effective mainly because of their
versatility. Every vertebrate moves according to these rules, even the
ones without legs (like snakes).
A monkey
jumping from branch to branch observes the same rules. Obviously, it uses
only its arms to move, but its arm muscles are not powerful enough to
move fast, so it has to use a combination of extreme tilting and twisting
in the shoulders to cover more distance with minimum effort. How do I
know all this? I didn't spend hours observing dogs or chimps in their
natural habitat. I simply tried to understand why they move that way,
and what is the most efficient way. The three axis animation principles
are guidelines to analyze any kind of motion. Knowing that you can replicate
about any movement by understanding it, gives you the freedom to invent
new ones. The true challenge for an animator is obviously not to do a
run cycle, but to come up with that crazy out of this world movement that
your producer needs for his new fighting game. Games are not always realistic
(not realistic as in cartoony), and you often need to create something
bigger than life (like in any good kung fu movie), so you will have to
invent a lot of moves. Inventing is challenging, but if you follow the
basic rules, you can create something fantastic and believable. Rules are
better than tricks when you animate. They can apply to any kind of animation,
and a basis to elaborate, create and give style to your work. Try to keep
them in mind, and your life as a game animator will be a lot easier. It's just a game Now we have
all the tools necessary to create the right animation for our character,
but we have one last obstacle: remembering it's just a game. Animating
for a game requires restrictions; from the number of polygons the character
is made of, the ridiculously limited number of bones you can animate,
to the numbers of key frames you are allowed for each movement. Restrictions
are the ugly reality of game animation. If I tell you to animate a guy
hitting the perfect hook on the jaw of his opponent, you will probably
have no difficulty figuring it out. Now, if I tell you to animate it in
twelve frames (almost a third of a second), you start to realize the real
challange. There is no easy way to deal with restrictions in games, however,
a few guidelines are useful. If you keep in mind the basic rules of three-axis
animation, you can easily tweak, adapt, and simplify your animations without
changing them. The most
important thing to keep in mind is how your animations will be seen, and
not how they look. Seeing an animation in a 3D program is very different
from seeing it in a game. This may seem obvious, but it is too often forgotten.
If you are working on a fighting game for example, the camera will be
very close and probably always on the side of your character. If you are
working on a first person shooter, chances are the only thing the player
will really see, are the death animations of his enemies. If you are working
on a strategy title, the overhead camera will flatten and change every
animation. This requires you to look at all your animations from the perspective
of the player. Try to place the camera at the same angle as the game camera.
Do not play your animations in slow motion or frame by frame. Think of
it as a whole, rather than getting lost in useless details and minute
tweaks that nobody but you can see. Game animation is an illusion and
a craft, not a science. The first
thing about an animation is making it right. The second thing to remember
is to make it interesting. This is why you have to know what part of your
animation will be seen in the game. Put the subtle details in place, the
key frames and the nicely crafted weight effects where you are sure they
will be seen. Remember, if the player can't see them, they do not exist,
and all of your work has been a complete waste of time Try to make
your animations simple and expressive. Making it right, does not mean
you have to make it complex. The basic rules of movement tell us that
every motion has to be cost efficient. Try to do the same for each animation.
Do not create key frames all over the place, because you will have to
correct every little glitch. Keeping it clean and simple will make it
easier to manage. Finally,
basic rules give you basic animations. Remember, that the rules of three-axis
animation are only a foundation to create, experiment, and discover. A
memorable animation is one that adds to the character. You have to understand
the how in animation, to be able to create the why. For instance, this
guy is walking by thrusting his legs, and tilting and twisting his hips
and shoulders, but why does he want to walk? What do I want to communicate
with my animation? Just try to communicate one simple feeling. The guy
is a guard who is alone in a room, and is probably bored and tired. Try
to express the guys feeling of boredom through your animation. The player
will remember he saw a person who shuffled around and looked believably
bored, not just a mindless robot. This will give the player more information
and enjoyment from the game world. Rules are useful, and necessary, but they can become a distraction when the only thing you want is the right animation. Do not get obsessed with what is necessary to make it perfect. The animator should strive for the good animation that is imbued with emotion giving life to a mathematical object made of polygons. Conclusion
Bridgman's Life Drawing by George B. Bridgman - Dover The Human Figure in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge - Dover Cyclopedia Anatomicae by Gyorgy Feher - Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston - Hyperion Discuss this article in Gamasutra's discussion forum. ______________________________________________________  [Back
To] Introduction
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